Brooklyn by Bike

Yay! It has snowed here in the BK. Flights were canceled. Blomberg told us to go out and shop/eat. We didn’t listen. Instead we sat on our couch all day.”Working from home” is a beautiful thing. While on the couch watching PBS, we were pleasantly surprised when an episode of e2 highlighting Vélib – Paris’ bike sharing program aired.

Some things that resonated with us…

• Vélib is more about the mind shift in eco-friendly transportation than the actual environmental impact.
• Bicycling in Paris has increased not due to Vélib but because people are riding more of their own bikes since Vélib was introduced.
• Vélib stations – located every 400m around Paris – help facilitate more human-human and human-nature interaction. Singles and friends are meeting up more and more in these stations.

See the trailer for yourself. The episode is narrated by Brad Pitt and should be re-airing again on PBS. Check you local listings. It made us feel inspired to continue to push forward with a similar program here in NYC.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6L-ZC3YPTg]

You can see the exclusive podcast here.

NYU students get all the luck…or they pay for it with their very high tuition. We’re just jealous that our campus never had a bike share program.

Starting now, any NYU ID carded folks have access to a 30 bikes located at two on-campus sites. The bikes provided will be odd-shaped Birias, single-speed cruisers.

Apparently, “They scoop down in the front, so you can get on with a skirt or suit.” …just what we’ve always wished for.

[via ABC news]